Dell Prepares To Dial Into Smartphone Marketplace

By

Justin Scheck and

Yukari Iwatani Kane

Updated Jan. 30, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET

Dell Inc., aiming to rev up sales as its mainstay personal-computer business struggles in the recession, is preparing a move into cellphones as early as next month, said people familiar with the matter.

The Round Rock, Texas, company has had a group of engineers working on the phones for more than a year from an office in the Chicago area, these people said. They produced prototypes built on Google Inc.'s Android operating system and...